Animal Shelter Seeing Red / The closure of the most abusive `puppy mill' in California history became so expensive that it may put Butte County's SPCA out of business

Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, August 13, 1995

It was the biggest animal abuse case in the history of California, and it concluded with a felony conviction for a woman accused of starving and abusing hundreds of poodles.

Dog owner Charlotte Speegle went to jail for her misdeeds and her poodles were placed in loving homes -- but the story has by no means ended.

The local animal protection agency that sought the charges against Speegle is now on the verge of bankruptcy. It owes $264,000 to creditors, all because the case dragged on for months and the costs of caring for the dogs skyrocketed.

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"She broke us by getting her trial delayed over and over again," said Merry Johnson, director of the Northwest SPCA. "We had to care for scores of poodles until the final disposition of the case. We're privately funded, and we simply didn't have the money."

Johnson said her organization has raised about $54,000 against the debt and has applied for grants, "but no significant source of funding has materialized yet -- nothing that could save us."

Without additional money, Johnson said, the doors to the shelter will close by September 10.

It all began on July 26, 1993, when Butte County law enforcement officials and rabies control officers from the Northwest SPCA served a search warrant on a kennel run by Speegle in the remote mountain hamlet of Hurleton, 10 miles east of Oroville.

What the officials found horrified them -- they had stumbled onto the biggest "puppy mill" ever documented in the state.

As investigators entered the junk-strewn property on Hurleton Road, they were met with an overwhelming stench of dog excrement. A horse with open sores and untrimmed hooves was limping around a muddy paddock soaked with sewage from an overflowing septic tank.

A fenced area surrounding a mobile home swarmed with more than 200 toy poodles. The matted, skinny dogs darted like frightened rats among piles of garbage and feces.

Inside the filthy mobile home -- where Speegle lived with her cousin, Don Speegle -- officers found 15 more dogs, plus the corpses of several others stored in a freezer.

"It was like a concentration camp," said Johnson. "We took out more than 200 dogs the first day and 78 the second day. We had to euthanize 34 of them immediately because they were beyond recovery."

Rob MacKenzie, a Butte County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Charlotte Speegle, said the property was like a MASH unit after the raid. "We had six vets helping us, and we still had to put a lot of the animals down. It was a very extreme situation."

Breeding records seized in the raid indicated 47 litters of poodle pups had been born on the property between January and July 1993. The files also showed that at least 100 puppies had been sold during the first six months of 1993. Other records indicated that at least 125 poodles had died in the 18 months prior to the raid.

Such "puppy mills" are common in the Midwest, investigators said, but are relatively rare on the West Coast.

The Speegles were arrested and released without bail and their dogs ultimately put up for adoption by the SPCA. But that November, Charlotte Speegle was arrested again, this time for violating a court order that proscribed her from keeping any dogs except a pet dachshund.

Authorities said they found her living in a Winnebago recreational vehicle with 57 poodles crammed into small cages.

Additional charges were filed against Speegle, and the dogs taken into custody by the Northwest SPCA -- which again had to foot all costs for feeding, housing and caring for the animals.

By this time, the SPCA had shelled out thousands of dollars for dog food and veterinary care.

"We couldn't release the poodles for adoption because they were considered evidence necessary for prosecution of the case," said Johnson, the SPCA director. "It was getting to be incredibly expensive."

Through a series of legal maneuvers -- such as motions for dismissal and continuance -- Speegle was able to delay her trial on eight felony and two misdemeanor charges until January 1995.

During that delay, she launched a series of civil lawsuits against SPCA and county officials, further entangling the case and stalling the placement of her dogs in new homes.

Don Speegle, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to a lone misdemeanor count of animal neglect. Officials said he suffered from cancer, and that his physical condition was a factor in the early disposition of the case against him.

Charlotte Speegle acted as her own attorney during her trial, which lasted for seven weeks. The jury required only four hours to reach its verdicts -- guilty on all counts except for one misdemeanor charge.

Throughout the trial, Speegle maintained her innocence, claiming her animals suffered from malnutrition and injury only after they were transferred to the care of the SPCA. She testified she was judged more for poor dog grooming than animal neglect, stating that "dogs get dirty" under normal kennel conditions.

Speegle is now in the Central California Women's Correctional Facility in Chowchilla for psychiatric evaluation. When she returns to Butte County on Tuesday, she will be sentenced -- possibly for up to six years in prison. She already has been ordered to reimburse the Northwest SPCA for all expenses incurred in the case, now totaling $264,600.

Speegle has told the court she is indigent. She could not be reached for comment.

During her trial, Speegle vowed to take her case "to the court of appeals, (the) Supreme Court of California and the U.S. Supreme Court because I am innocent and what has happened to my poodles is wrong."

Dale Rasmussen, a Chico attorney who appeared with Speegle the day of her sentencing to ask for clemency, said Butte County officials and the Northwest SPCA were "trying to make an example" of Speegle.

"They want the maximum amount of time for her in prison, so they're trying to couch the case in human terms," Rasmussen said. "They're presenting these poodles like they're 200 little kids. But they're animals, not people."

Assistant district attorney MacKenzie described Speegle as "very intelligent, very smooth, very determined. She has sued me, and she has sued Merry Johnson and rabies officer Scot Johnson (no relation to Merry Johnson) at least four times each."

Meanwhile, the Northwest SPCA must contend with the huge debt accumulated from the Speegle case.

"We have (an animal control) contract with the City of Oroville, but basically we rely on private donations," said Merry Johnson. "I think we can stay open until September 10, but we'll have to close our doors after that unless we find more money. It's a nightmare."

The great fear, say local authorities, is that other illegal dog breeders could seize on the Speegle case as an inspiration for further challenges to animal control and animal abuse ordinances.

"Counties like Butte are in terrible financial shape, and so are many rural animal shelters," said Merry Johnson. "Justice prevailed where Charlotte Speegle is concerned, but something is wrong when one case can threaten a region's entire animal abuse program."